Starbucks Rolls Out TV to Support Via Flavors

Happy with sales of its Via instant coffee, Starbucks is rolling out flavored Via products with a TV and print campaign playing up the appeal of vanilla and cinnamon.

TV ads, breaking this week from BBDO, New York, support those two flavors—Vanilla and Cinnamon Spice—with shots of vanilla beans cascading onto a burlap coffee bag and cinnamon sticks, respectively. The idea, said BBDO chief creative officer David Lubars, is to “smell the aroma coming off the screen.”

The ads coincide with the national rollout of the new Via flavors, plus Mocha and Caramel, in Starbucks stores and various supermarkets, which provide Via with 37,000 points of distribution, a Starbucks rep said. As part of the launch, Starbucks will once again sample the drink at its stores, and is dangling a free tall coffee with the purchase of one of the flavored coffees.

Starbucks launched Via in September 2009, and within a year, passed $100 million in global sales, according to SymphonyIRI. Starbucks spent about $17 million in measured media supporting the launch, per The Nielsen Co.

Happy with sales of its Via instant coffee, Starbucks is rolling out flavored Via products with a TV and print campaign playing up the appeal of vanilla and cinnamon.

TV ads, breaking this week from BBDO, New York, support those two flavors—Vanilla and Cinnamon Spice—with shots of vanilla beans cascading onto a burlap coffee bag and cinnamon sticks, respectively. The idea, said BBDO chief creative officer David Lubars, is to “smell the aroma coming off the screen.”

The ads coincide with the national rollout of the new Via flavors, plus Mocha and Caramel, in Starbucks stores and various supermarkets, which provide Via with 37,000 points of distribution, a Starbucks rep said. As part of the launch, Starbucks will once again sample the drink at its stores, and is dangling a free tall coffee with the purchase of one of the flavored coffees.

Starbucks launched Via in September 2009, and within a year, passed $100 million in global sales, according to SymphonyIRI. Starbucks spent about $17 million in measured media supporting the launch, per The Nielsen Co.